My Future And Other Useless Things
by CheesePie
Summary: Deidara is forced on a school trip to konaha college where he is grouped with a few... interesting - for lack of a better term - people, including an 'emo' with no drive, a jashinist on detention, a fujoshi and an idiot who doesn't know the true meaning of art. Throughout the course of the day he learns more from the students than the teachers could ever show him. shounen-ai. AU.
1. The Future Is Overrated

**I had the idea. it kept bugging me. i couldn't help it.**

**so i wrote this. it's just a small story, it'll have like, four or five chapters.**

**First person cause i haven't written in first person in a while.**

**for those who don't know, a fujoshi is a woman who really likes yaoi.**

**Enjoy ^^ and remember I OWN NOTHING.**

* * *

This is so stupid. Why do high schooler's still go on field trips anyway? The last _interesting_ field trip we went on was to the zoo during my second year of primary school. We've been to the stardome observatory every year since then and I had never learnt anything new.

Yeah, stars are big, burning balls of gas, planets orbit the sun, there's an asteroid belt, Venus is the hottest planet and Pluto is a ball of ice that no longer qualifies to be a planet.

I know all of that already! I knew it when I was _eight!_ And no amount of pointless visits to that stupid place could convince me to become an astronomer – though there was a brief period when I was ten, where I wanted to travel into space.

The only reason we weren't going this year, was because I had promised my science teacher that if we went, I'd blow the damn place up.

And he knew I was good for it too.

But now, since I had actually bothered to pay attention in physics, I was one of the _lucky_ little idiots who got to attend an orientation day for Konaha University.

I didn't want to go there; I was gonna go to Iwa University of Arts. They only taught creative major's there; writing, drama, fashion, photography and plain art, though you could also study law through an umbrella course.

It was either that or I'd end up going to Suna University of Mechanics and Engineering.

Konaha University, much like the high school of the same name, was revolved around the sciences; physics, chemistry and biology. If you wanted to go into medicine, then that was the place to go, although it wasn't the only thing they taught there, it was best known for its medical courses.

Although I was interested in chemicals and the like, I didn't want to go into it as a career.

I pitied the people who were only here to please somebody else, much like the bumbling idiots who had accompanied me there. I was always questioned around my school, for my careless attitude but I didn't care what they thought of me, that was their problem, not mine.

My art teacher told me that I should live for myself instead of in consistent fear of what other people will think of me. After all, why have a job or life that will make you miserable?

I don't want to be tied down by anything.

I wanted to be free to fly at any given moment.

But I digress.

See my teacher decided it would be a good idea to send me and a few other students to Konaha University, so that we could prepare for some inevitable future of becoming doctors or surgeons or chemists…

Well, whatever.

The building was huge and made of glass, the grey of the cloudy skies reflected in their tinted surface as drops of rain began to fall.

We weren't the only school there and I saw the distinct red of Konaha High School, the white of Kiri, yellow for Suna – whey they would make a _whole_ school dress in yellow was beyond me – blue for Taki, purple for Yuga and green for Ame. Against the dull grey sky which matched Iwa's own grey, they were an explosion of colour.

We all shuffled inside to check in, rallied into separate corners of the room by our science teachers and told to keep quiet while we were checked in.

I heard someone in my group say we'd be split up so we could make connections with other people.

Whatever, I wasn't looking to make any friends.

We were led into a large lecture hall and given an introduction to what we'd be doing today. Nothing I hadn't heard at school already and finally, our names were called out for us to be put in groups.

It took a few minutes but eventually I heard my name called out with four others;

"Hidan, Itachi, Sasori, Konan and Deidara, group seven."

It seemed each of us were from a different high school; I saw Yuga, Konaha, Suna and Ame along with Iwa, which I was wearing proudly.

My group consisted of an impassive looking kid with long dark hair, his obsidian eyes seemed to take in everything around him and process it all like a computer. There was a guy with white hair from Yuga who looked mighty ticked off to be here, a redhead who looked like he might fall asleep form boredom and a girl who looked excited to have been put in a group with all boys.

We were accompanied by the teacher form Yuga who seemed a little apprehensive towards his student and growled, "Hidan you better behave yourself."

"Bite me you heathen son of a bitch," Hidan barked back.

Well then…

"You should watch what you say, god is watching us, you know" the girl, _Konan_ said with a smile. She didn't look much the religious type but it could've been a nicer way of telling him to shut the fuck up.

"The only god I care about is lord Jashin and he doesn't give a damn what I say!"

"Hidan I swear, if you don't behave today I'll –"

"Expel me? Go right ahead, see if I fucking care!"

"How did you even get here, un?" I asked quietly, not expecting him to hear me, but honestly, _how?_

"It's _supposed_ to be a punishment," his teacher sighed.

"What? But this place is _so cool!_" Konan insisted.

The redhead rolled his eyes, "fan-fucking-tastic," he said, "I've been grouped with an emo, an overly excited nerd, an androgynous and sally-swears-a-lot. Can we just get this over with so I can go back?"

His words seemed to shock us all into being quiet except for the kid from Konaha who had already been silent.

As we started walking again though, I heard him say, "I'm not emo."

But wait, if he was the emo…

"Hey, I'm not androgynous, dammit un!"

That redheaded jerk didn't even look back, but I could hear the sneer in his words, "well brat, you could've fooled me," he said.

What a jerk!

I wasn't even wearing a skirt!

"I'm not even wearing a skirt, un!"

And immediately, the only girl in our group turned on me. Seriously, if I'd known people from other schools were this psycho… well I have no way to finished that because I'd never really considered going anywhere else.

"So you're saying that all girls should wear skirts and dresses?" Konan asked, feigning anger but the humour in her eyes said she only wanted to fuel the fire. "I suppose you think we all belong in the kitchen too, huh? Since I'm a girl, you're probably wondering why I'm here, right? Cause women can't go out and do things with their lives, right?"

"Sexist prick," Hidan muttered, apparently taking her side.

"Tch, I feel sorry for the poor girl who ends up with you," Konan concluded, clearly having fun with me and the way I reacted to everything she said.

"What? Un, I don't even like girls –"

_Dammit!_

I felt my face turn red as I realised my confession and Konan clapped her hands together, letting out a high-pitched squeal – you know the one, don't deny it – having heard just what she wanted.

"Great," the grouchy redheaded jerk muttered, "add Fujoshi to the list, that's just what I fucking need."

I frowned. What did that mean?

"Dammit un, I'm not androgynous!"

"Whatever you say, brat."

So far this trip was starting off worse than any trip to the dome and I could tell things were only going to get worse.


	2. Fun With A Fujoshi

**I love writing Konan with different personalities... especially Fujoshi. it's fun ^^**

**now i don't know how they do college orientations where you are, but where i am, this is pretty much it. and it's the same focus every time, for people like me. i actually got the idea for this while at an orientation i was forced to go to by my biology teacher. anyways...**

**also, i just thought i'd rant a little about how happy i am to have done the artistic opinion arguement.. the whole ****_fleeting, eternal_**** thing. i've never gotten to write that before and it was really fun and i thought i'd just rant about that for a moment ^^**

* * *

Chemistry was first.

I'd always sort of liked chemicals, or more what you could do with them. I'd gotten in trouble a lot in class for either intentionally poisoning the air, or _accidently_ mixing the wrong chemicals and causing a fire or explosion. Of course there had been a few times when I wasn't caught, that I tampered with the chemicals before class, resulting in varying levels of chaos.

It was always fun to watch things catch on fire.

I'd lit the art room on fire once and gotten in massive trouble from the teacher, as well as the students. I burned a lot of good work that day, though I really couldn't see it as such until it was burning and I knew I'd never see it again.

Even though I got in a lot of trouble for that, it was exhilarating seeing the pile of ashes, burnt out canvases and ruined frames.

But I digress.

The first thing we did, after putting our stuff in a safe room, was introduce ourselves. It was lame; to say the least because by then, we'd already heard enough from and about each other to paint a basic picture.

But we went around the circle nonetheless. His teacher tried to stop him, but Hidan went first.

"I'm Hidan from Yuga high school. Put a couple of kids in the hospital and they send me here for fucking punishment instead of expelling me like a smart person fucking would," he looked at the man and woman at the front of the room, who were supposed to be teaching us, "happy?"

Well, they didn't look happy.

Moving on.

"Itachi, from Konaha. My parents want me to be a doctor."

"Well, Itachi," the woman smiled kindly at him but it wasn't returned in the slightest, "Why did _you_ want to come here?"

Itachi frowned for a moment as though he didn't understand the question, before re-iterating his answer. "I'm _going_ to be a doctor."

The woman gave a look that sort of said, _okay then… awkward,_ before we moved on.

Konan waved enthusiastically at the two and at us, "hi, I'm Konan and I go to Ame High School, I take all available science courses, I love anything to do with science or numbers or anything that just makes you _think!_ I'd really like to work with like, explosives or atomic bombs or in like, a secret government program, but my boyfriend says that's unrealistic, so I want to be a psychologist!"

The woman smiled and nodded, albeit unsurely, before everyone was suddenly staring at Sasori, who had been staring at something on the ground the entire time and not paying attention. He seemed able to sense us staring at him though and looked up with those bored brown eyes.

"Oh, what are we doing?" he asked.

"Tell us why you're here, un," I told him. I smirked slightly when he gave me a look that sort of said, _seriously?_

"Alright, I'm from Suna and I'd really rather be in Iwa right now because I am missing the art workshops and will therefore not only have to waste time here with science geeks, but on the weekend trying to get information on the art courses without meeting any other aspiring artists."

"W-well, why did you come here, if you'd rather be somewhere else?" the woman asked, stuttering at Sasori's cold demeanour.

Sasori shrugged, "art is, apparently not an acceptable source of income. My grandmother wouldn't sign the permission slip for Iwa, so they wouldn't take me."

So far, this was looking to be a pretty sorry group of people.

I took that as my cue to speak.

"Well un, I'm from Iwa, I'm _not _androgynous," I felt the need to add that in because of the incident earlier, "and I'm only here because my physics teacher doesn't want me to blow up the stardome. That's my thing, by the way un, I love to blow things up or set them on fire. I was actually hoping to go to Iwa today and light one of the rooms on fire, un."

Yep, the two specialists here definitely thought we were insane.

"What the hell would you do that for, brat?" Sasori asked when I'd finished, looking at me as though I was a complete idiot.

I shrugged, still smirking, "to watch it all burn, un. I don't think art has much meaning until it's gone un. I think true beauty is fleeting."

Sasori scoffed in disbelief, "you idiot, art isn't fleeting, what the hell is the point of something if you only see it once? Art is _eternal_, brat."

"_Eternal?"_ I asked, disbelievingly, "un, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! If art was eternal, it would lose its meaning! The most beautiful things in this world are those that last only a few fleeting moments before disappearing, only to ever been seen as memories, half as good as what they really were! Art is _fleeting!"_

"Art is eternal brat! True art stands the test of time. Something that lasts only a few moments has no meaning at all, it's pointless if you only see something once! True art is _eternal!"_

I think by then we'd both realised we were being stared at, but an artist's opinion is more than just that… it's a way of life! It's everything!

And I wasn't going to stand around and let him dis my _everything!_

"It's _fleeting_, un!" I yelled, getting up off of my chair.

"It's _eternal,_ brat!" he growled, mimicking me.

"Fleeting!"

"Eternal!"

"Fleeting, un!"

"Oh god, they're almost as bad as you."

The sound of Yuga's staff representative, snapped us out of it.

I blushed lightly, realising just how close we'd gotten, close enough I could smell him, which was weird, but he smelled like coconut and marshmallow's, which was also weird, coming from such an angry seeming guy. I could feel the heat radiating from his body and the intensity of his stare sent a shiver through me, before Konan pulled us apart, barely supressing her fangirlish-glee.

"alright, alright, break it up, you're making an _awful_ impression," she said, almost unable to keep the squeal out of her voice, "you, switch places with me," she shoved Sasori over to her seat on the other side of our small circle, and sat down next to me, giving me an enthusiastic smile.

I'd never quite had _this_ reaction to my differences back at school.

"Okay then… that was a terrible idea," the woman said, "but at least we'll know better for the next group. So, let's get into it, shall we?"

So after the failed introduction stage, they taught us a bit about what they did, they both worked at in a lab with a bunch of other people, working on new medications which would take _years_ to perfect and actually get onto the market.

Hidan said they didn't do anything useful and there was nothing we could learn from them. Of course, he was just being him, since he had no interest in this stuff.

After that, we worked out a couple of chemical equations on the whiteboard and were given the chemicals and equipment needed to complete the reactions. I was paired with Konan, Itachi and Sasori worked together on the other side of the room and Hidan was kept away from the chemicals completely by his teacher.

Idiots. They should've been watching the self-confessed pyromaniac.

"What are you doing?" Konan asked in that sickeningly cheerful voice as I rummaged around in the cupboards beneath our work station.

"Nothing un," I said, mimicking her voice while pushing aside bottles of chemicals.

"Well okay, are you planning to help, at all?"

"Wait un, I'm looking for something."

I looked up in time to see her giving me a look, before I turned back to the chemicals beneath the counter.

"So you're good at chemistry, huh?"

"I wouldn't say _good._ I like to pretend I'm a mad scientist sometimes un… is that weird?"

Konan laughed, "no, not weird at all. My boyfriend has a bit of a god complex so I know a little something about make-believe."

"Boyfriend, huh? Lucky you, un. Same school or do you do the _only on weekends_ thing, un?"

Not finding quite what I was looking for beneath that bench, I went to the next. Really, they should've kept their chemicals in a different room, but I guess they'd never had a problem before with students like me picking their locks. After today, they'd most likely keep their chemicals somewhere else.

"No, we both go to the same school. He's here today, actually, not really a science geek as much as I am, but it's always good to keep your options open, right? He was kinda disappointed when he was recommended for this place instead of Ame College but we'll be going there tomorrow, instead of going to school."

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but Ame College was one that focussed on things like politics, public speaking, philosophy and the odd mathematics major. Of course, like the other college's you could do a few other things there but if you wanted to be really successful in something that didn't require good speaking and thinking skills, you'd be better off going somewhere else.

"So what's your excuse, Deidara?" she practically sang. I was already beginning to grow annoyed with her happiness and yet it was somehow so endearing at the same time.

"Huh, excuse for what, un?" I asked absently.

"Being single. You're what, a senior? And a total cutie! You have no excuse to be single!"

"Un, you're just saying that because you're a…" what was it Sasori called her earlier? "Because you're a Fujoshi, un."

I looked up to see a weird spark in her eyes and a smile on her face – don't pretend you don't know that smile – and she said, "well yeah, but also because it's true!"

I rolled my eyes. "Iwa isn't a very tolerant school, un," I said eventually.

"Well then maybe you need to explore other options," she giggled slightly and I looked up to see her looking across the room where the other two were working quietly and were probably on task.

No way. No way in hell.

"Are you kidding un? That guy's a total jerk! And an idiot too un!" I could only assume she was talking about Sasori, because Itachi didn't look much the type to be into anything. He didn't even seem like he had his own, independent thought.

"Oh but it'd be so cute!" her words were followed by feet stamping and hand clapping, like some weird automatic reflex.

Fujoshi. I'd have to remember that if I ever heard that word again, it meant _run._

"Whatever un," I reached further into the cupboard and pulled out something that finally grabbed my attention. "What do we already have, un?"

She hummed a little and I heard the sound of liquid hitting glass before, "hydrochloric acid, potassium iodide, ammonia, nitric acid, hydrogen –"

"Peroxide, un?"

"Yep, why?"

"Perfect un. There a burner up there?"

"Uh huh."

I tossed her my lighter, one of many actually – though I preferred to use matches.

"Turn it on, please un?"

She did as asked and I placed the small tin I'd found, onto the bench.

_Acetone._

Highly explosive when heated with hydrogen peroxide and when in the presence of an acid.

We had all of those things.

I handed Konan a pair of safety goggles and asked if she'd ever messed around like this in chemistry before. Her answer was a flat out no.

"Well un, you're in for a shock then."

A dangerous shock.

I mixed the chemicals together in a flask held above the invisible flame. Hydrogen peroxide first, then hydrochloric acid. I had done this before, but never this much. I knew how likely it was that it'd explode and that was _exciting._

Konan eyed the small tin suspiciously and said, "Deidara, this is dangerous, don't you think –"

"No, un, I never do," I answered quickly and tipped in the acetone.

Nothing happened for a while. I swirled the flask a bit and waited and suddenly…

_BOOM!_

Konan and I ducked as fast as we could, I dropped the flask as it blew up and we huddled under the relatively safe counter. I cackled madly and Konan gave me a weird look, one I would've expected for my other weird behaviour, had she not been a Fujoshi.

Needless to say, we got into a lot of trouble for that little stunt.

The chemistry workshop had to finish sooner than they'd planned and we were rushed off before we could cause any more damage.

* * *

**oh yeah, so i spent about an hour looking for explosive chemical reactions, then i got bored and wrote something completely random. just so yall know, i do not claim to know anything about chemicals, i actually failed my chemistry exam this year AND last year, including all practice exams. do NOT try this at home ^^.**


	3. Fixing Futures

**BEWARE THE OOC Itachi. it is for my entertainment and also for the purpose of this story. read at your own risk.**

**also, i've always pictured Itachi with a creepy, younger-kid complex. that's the only reason he made that particular decision. also, i would be so happy if Itachi was my little sister's doctor.**

**i decided to post this early because im struggling with Smoke&Mirrors. i can't get the event placement right... but whatever ^^**

* * *

Konan and I were kept away from each other after that, because even though I'd been the one holding the flask and I was a self-confessed pyromaniac, they couldn't tell whether it was my fault or hers. So we were kept at a safe distance by the Yuga science teacher. Also, taking into account my earlier argument with the idiotic, _self-proclaimed_ artist, I was kept away from Sasori as well, leaving only Itachi for me to be paired with.

It's a shame because, despite myself and my unconscious urge to go against what Konan said, I wanted the chance to work with Sasori. He seemed alright, as long as he didn't open that stupid mouth of his, we'd probably be fine. But even if he did, that'd be alright too. I'd had fun arguing with him before and if nothing else, he was sexy when he was angry.

I couldn't help myself from wondering suddenly, how he knew about Konan. Were there people just like her at Suna high school? Was he just like me and had to avoid those girls on a daily basis? Was he seeing anybody?

Wait. It didn't matter! I was _not_ seriously considering doing _anything_ with an idiotic jerk who didn't realise art was fleeting!

No. nuh-uh. No way. _Forget it!_

I refocused myself. I was paired up with Itachi and we got going.

That didn't go over as well as had probably been expected.

Itachi was quiet and I didn't particularly like quiet people. Mainly because you can never tell what they're thinking and that freaks me out a little. And also because his face annoyed me and so did his earlier attitude.

_My parents want me to be a doctor… I'm __**going**__ to be a doctor._

It annoyed me that he seemed to have no individual thought. He was like a robot and robots are evil.

So I decided to speak to him, because what was the worst that could happen? (Besides being killed by what I was sure, were very powerful robot laser eyes.)

We were on our way to the Biology workshop and had fallen in line with the rest of the group, but we were at the back with minimum risk of any of them caring what we said.

Of course I had to be careful what I said.

"Are you a robot, un?" or you know, I could just get straight into it.

Itachi frowned down at me, narrowing his eyes slightly as he contemplated my question.

"No," he said, his voice characteristically cold.

"Well then un, lighten the hell up!" yeah, this approach was the one I wanted to take.

Itachi sighed, "You sound like somebody else I know," he said, staring ahead thoughtfully, "well, a few people actually."

"You should listen to these people, un!" I was actually kind of shocked that he _knew_ other people. He didn't seem the social type. Though they could've been drawn to him for some stupid, unknown reason. "They sound like smart people."

Itachi shrugged, "I see no point in it. What do you gain by being… _happy?_"

"What are you un, stupid?" I shook my head and muttered, "What do you _gain?_ What the hell kind of question is that?!"

"Stupid," Itachi repeated quizzically, "I've never been called _stupid_ before."

"Well maybe people should say that to you more often! Maybe then you'll act like a normal person, un. Jeez, you act like you have no purpose in life," he opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off, "and I swear, if you tell me your purpose is to become a doctor and make your parents proud, I'll have to blow you up as well, un."

For a moment, he closed his mouth, thinking carefully about the next words he would say.

"It isn't that there aren't things I'd rather do. But this is the path I've chosen."

"Un, did you choose it or are you just doing what you've been told?"

Yeah, think about _that_ for a while.

The biology workshop was a lot like the chemistry one, only without the introductions which took place beforehand. The two people, both women this time, were wary of us, having heard about the explosion in the chem lab and no doubt of the full extent of our weirdness.

They introduced themselves, I really didn't listen out for names, and told us what they did. The first was a med-student studying to be a GP and the other, a little older, was a surgical resident. Both of them had studied right here, at Konaha college and done – or were doing – research papers on population genetics, which was what we were doing in school right now.

It was an easy enough topic and I liked the way it explained things, like the way dogs supposedly evolved from a single type of wolf, and how all vegetables evolved from one type of plant. Or so theories suggested, anyway.

But today, we weren't learning about genetics, we were going to learn about cells, which was an exam I'd opted not to take. So I sat back and let Konan answer all of the questions with as much enthusiasm as a child on their first day of school. Itachi and Sasori probably both knew the answers, but neither spoke up and after the third time Hidan was picked and said _I have no fucking idea, bitch,_ they stopped trying to get an answer out of him.

I really wanted to cut open a frog. I mean yeah, I've already done it in class at least a dozen times, but what would it hurt to cut open another one?

Unfortunately, there were no frogs to cut open. We had to do a lame slide identification practical with microscopes. Usually, I liked working with the microscopes because we'd start up bets on what would and wouldn't work as a slide, but they were already made here, so we just had to figure out what was what.

And as it turned out, Itachi could tell them apart with a single glance and we were done after three minutes.

"Do you have parents?"

It shocked me when Itachi spoke first. I didn't think he knew _how_ to start a conversation, let alone actually possessed the need – or want – for human interaction.

"Nah un, I live with my older cousin," I told him. It was true, my parents had left me a while ago with my oldest cousin. It was cool though, he was twenty-six, had a family and a job, sometimes I pretended he was my real father. Sometimes I thought my family dysfunctions were what led to my _pyromania _as people sometimes called it.

But then I remembered, fires are cool.

"Is it… nice?" he chose his words carefully. I could tell he tried hard not to say the wrong thing.

"Hell un, I was just about to ask you the same thing!" I said, "What's it like actually having a family?"

He thought for a while, once again choosing his words carefully, "It has its moments. But how does it feel… to make your own decisions?"

He was being honest, so I decided to be honest as well. "Like nobody cares enough to make them for me, un."

We were silent for a moment as one of the women strolled past, making sure we weren't going to blow anything up this time. I mean, I wasn't _planning_ on it, but I might now, just because they expected me to.

Anyway, when she walked away, Itachi continued.

"I never thought I'd want advice from a stranger. Tobi wouldn't be happy if he were here," he said the last part to himself and I didn't question it, "do you think –"

"No un, I never do," I cut him off, "but if I did think, I'd think you know yourself better than I could at this point, un. You're good at this stuff, and you like it, right?"

He stared down at the microscope for a moment.

I could see the indecision in his eyes. Maybe I was a magnet for confusion because when I first saw him, he looked like a guy who pretty much had it together.

Finally, "I like the idea of helping people."

"Right un. So if you want to help people, medicine is the best place to go to… unless you wanna be like, a social worker or something like that?"

He shook his head. "My parents want me to be a surgeon."

So we were back to that. "Is that what you want, un?"

The look of togetherness returned to him and he said steadily, "I'm going to be a paediatrician."

"Good, un! You're starting to sound more alive already!"

Had I just fixed this guy's life?

Maybe I should be a psychiatrist. But I doubted that blowing up my office, my records and a few of my patients would go over well with officials.

"Do you know what you'll be when you grow up?" he asked.

I found that question increasingly weird as I got older. And especially now, since I was all but grown up anyway.

Still, I answered like I did whenever anybody asked.

"I'm going to be an artist, un."

And immediately, from across the room, Sasori said, "good luck with that brat. You can't be an artist if nobody ever sees your work."

To which I replied, "they'll see it un; right before I _destroy_ it," I wanted to laugh maniacally after that, but I felt it wouldn't go over well with _anybody_ and so I didn't.

"Idiot," he growled.

"It's unhealthy to talk to yourself, un."

I wanted to laugh at the look on Konan's face right now. It looked like she'd just entered a candy shop and everything was half price.

"Art is _eternal_, brat. You'll never make it if you destroy everything you create!"

"Well un, we'll just see what the world thinks! Before you know it they'll all think art is fleeting," not that I cared what the world thought, but I knew it would annoy him, "because _nothing_ lasts forever un. Not me, not you and certainly not anything worth seeing twice!" things that _were_ worth seeing twice, include that look on his face of pure, unadulterated anger, which would never look the same even if I managed to annoy him again.

For a moment, I thought we would continue arguing until the metaphorical cows came home, until the Yuga science teacher stopped us again.

"Jeez, why do I always get stuck with the lunatics?" he groaned, pushing me back from where I'd been leaning over the bench. On the other side of the room, Konan pulled Sasori back. If we had been arguing for much longer, I think either we'd have end up actually fighting or one of us would've thrown a microscope at the other.

"You're a magnet for trouble," Itachi said. Not a question but a plain statement.

"Un, seems so, doesn't it."


	4. For Lack Of A Better Title

**I had work this weekend, which hopefully explains why im updating late.**

**this is the second to last chapter. sorry for shortness and crapiness.**

**if it makes up for it in any way at all, im pretty sure i failed my maths exam ^^**

* * *

Around lunchtime, we were all gathered in the entrance hall like before and spoken to by the people who were running this stupid event. What did they say? I have no idea, I wasn't fucking listening! Probably something about _don't go jumping off the roof, okay?_ Though I'm pretty sure I heard mentions of my earlier work of art, but I could've been mistaken.

Afterwards, we were led group by group, outside. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind of outside where you could speed-ditch everyone and go back to Iwa, instead we were on the outside arc connecting two glass-walled sections of the building, a large garden stood in the centre of the arc, though I really couldn't understand what they needed a roof-garden for in a place like this.

As we left the building and stepped out into the dull Konaha sunlight, dulled by the still-present clouds, I could see _everything._ The section of our city they called Konaha, was one filled with tall buildings, all a similar shade of grey. The only colour came from yellow cabs in the streets, red min-vans, blue sports cars and small trees just off the side walk. It was a very inartistic place, much like its college.

The groups started to separate. It was weird, really. All of the green shirts sat together, so did the blue shirts, red shirts, purple shirts, white shirts and yellow shirts. Us kids from Iwa didn't really know each other that well, but I saw most of them moving towards each other, and away from everybody else, no matter how much they didn't want to.

Ours was the last group to split.

Konan looked at us all almost sadly, before running over to where all the kids from Ame sat. I could hear her from where we stood, a good distance away, talking excitedly to a guy with orange hair, who I assumed was her future politician boyfriend.

Lucky her.

Sasori and Itachi walked away at the same time, heading in opposite directions, only one of them bothered to acknowledge Hidan and I, while the other stalked off to be a jerk somewhere else. Itachi didn't go towards the rest of Konaha like expected, but ended up sitting with one of the Kiri students who sat away from everyone else.

"You're not going to sit with your friends, un?" I asked Hidan. We were standing awkwardly near the door, staring at all of the places where we didn't belong.

"I don't think I'm allowed," he said, smirking over at all the purple shirt wearers who seemed to shrink as a group, "besides, I fucking hate all those guys. You not gonna sit with Iwa?"

"Nah un, I hate all those guys," just because I didn't know them, didn't mean I couldn't hate them.

We ended up sitting together out of the sun and away from everybody else. Hidan had caused a bit of a scene as we were walking away, having been told to stay within his teacher's line of sight, he responded simply by saying, "why don't you go fuck yourself?"

Needless to say, we weren't welcome at any of the tables where _normal_ people sat and we probably wouldn't be welcome with the rest of our group. That's why we decided to sit far away from everybody, closer to the edge of the arc.

Hidan told me a bit about himself, since I had already said a lot throughout the day. Apparently Yuga was for parents who were desperately poor or just plan desperate, and Hidan's parents just happened to be both. Yuga high school was notorious for it's _no rejection_ policy and unwillingness to expel students, no matter what they did. So anybody who was like Hidan and wanted to be rid of education would simply have to quit instead.

However, since Hidan went to Yuga on court order, that wasn't an option either. He would either have to finish his last year or commit a crime so bad they put him in jail straight away.

But the point of this was to gain freedom, and so the latter was not really an option.

"Un, don't you want to do anything with your life?" I asked him. I figured if I could set one guy straight, setting another one the same way shouldn't be a problem.

"Nothing that involves the useless shit they teach in school," he told me. "Besides, all of the teachers from Yuga treat me like a fucking mentally ill child and don't go saying it's my fault because they were doing it before started acting out."

I laughed a little because I had been in the same boat. "Don't worry un, I know what you mean," I said, "sometimes I think there isn't a person in the world who isn't out to get me, un."

"Yeah. They're all a bunch of heathen pricks."

The look on his face right then was identical to that of a sullen child.

Hidan went on to tell me what he _would_ like to do with his life and what he was already doing. Granted, it wasn't exactly… legal, but neither was my method of art, unless you had a permit.

He'd made a lot of money stealing and selling a range of _used_ items, from both commercial places and residential, as well as providing a range of… questionable services – not like that, perv! He's made a small underground business of it wasn't the only one playing the game, despite the fact that he routinely blew most of his own earnings playing cards, not to mention he was in debt – just a little. Though he was certain he'd be fine.

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out, huh, un?"

"Yep. Just sixteen more weeks and I can graduate and move away from my dickhead parents."

"Well yeah un, but you'll probably want to control that gambling probably."

He let out a bark of laughter and said, yeah, probably."

That was about when he was caught. He'd also explained that he wasn't the only high school kid who'd had this idea, nor was he the only one involved in semi-legal gambling. In fact he owed a lot of money to a kid form Taki who was the same age as us.

"Hidan!"

We both looked towards the sound of his name being called out; his eyes full of uncertain fear while I was sure my own were full of simple amusement.

"Hidan, where's my money?"

The kid from Taki looked dangerous, though Hidan made up his mind and decided he wasn't scared.

"Does it look like I fucking know?" he asked, getting up off his seat so as to curse louder.

In the midst of their heated and very public argument, which as it wore on, seemed to get more and more like a fight, I decided to take my leave.

I snuck off to the other side of the arc, past eagerly watching students and uncertain teachers – because none of this had anything to do with them – and sure enough, there he was. There was still one member of my group I had yet to properly acquaint myself with, and there were no teachers around who weren't focussing on that other mess, to stop me from getting close to Sasori.


End file.
